I traveled out of my comfort zone to cover one of Arizona's most anticipated (since RESO 2008) truck shows of the year, Bring the Noize 2008. Yes, I left the confinements of the California borders to see what our neighboring state had to offer in the world of custom trucks. And I wasn't disappointed one bit.
Bring the Noize 2008 was hosted at the Victory Lane Sports Park is Glendale, Arizona, just about six-and-a-half hours from Los Angeles. It's not a bad drive but the on-and-off rainstorms California was experiencing left me wondering if the show had a possibility of being rained out -- since the gloomy weather happened to follow me there. Luckily on the morning of February 24, the rain storms subsided and left a perfect overcast day as lowered and lifted trucks decorated the freshly cut grass baseball fields.
All though I've had the pleasure of having seen some of these great trucks at previous shows, I was more surprised at the onslaught of classic and new heavy-duty duallies and a huge showing of Scion xBs. There was so much to see and a lot of new custom ideas in the works for most of the half-rattle-canned painted pickups. But in the end it was Mark Barbee's custom candy blue early 1960s Chevy pickup that walked away with the "Best of Show" honors.
The best part of custom truck shows is the photos - because pictures are worth more than my endless rambling of what I saw. Instead you can see it for yourself as if you where there. The only thing you're missing is the loud thumping music and the smell of carnauba wax in the morning.
To see the full list of winners from the show, visit
artofnoize.com.